Hot on the hooves of the announcement of the forthcoming opening of the initialed steak house P.M. Prime in Highwood, the steak chain STK (360 N. State St., no phone yet) recently stated its plan to open a Chicago location next year, its first in the Midwest. “I’m in love with Chicago,” says Celeste Fierro, a senior vice president. “A great city. It reminds me of New York.” 

STK, whose letters don’t stand for individual words but spell “steak” without the vowels, offers steaks in small, medium, and large sizes—rather than the steak-house usual of large, mammoth, and Joey Chestnut—cooked in a 1,200-degree broiler. Wet- and dry-aged steaks, as well as real-thing Kobe beef from Japan, are also available. Nonsteak menu items include raw-bar stuff and STK’s take on sliders, mini wagyu burgers with house butter pickles and a sort of truffled Russian dressing as special sauce.

“I keep the steak competitive in terms of quality and price, in plating, creativity, without being too wild,” says Liran Mezan, STK’s head corporate chef. “What [STK] brings to the table that nobody else does is the different type of attitude.”

STK press material emphasizes the difference in decor and vibe between STK and the stereotypical dark wood, studded red leather look of steak houses. “Our design is a little more chic and selected and edgy,” Fierro says. Vowels have gone out of style, we guess. Oops, we mean vwls hv gn t f stl.